(Update: To clarify, I refer to conservative thinkers in this piece and add Gillespie to the group. I don’t mean to characterize — at all — the Reason editor as a “typical” conservative. Gillespie is a libertarian who is conservative in the free-markets sense of the word, but his views on socials issues are more complex.)

Your Spotted This Morning correspondent, who relishes going Gonzo whenever possible, left his basement blogging HQ this weekend and went into the field for a little research.

I wanted to see first-hand what Colorado conservatives were up to during this time that Republicans are spectacularly flaming out in the governorâ€™s race.

Relaxing under a tent with cigars and drinks after a morning of sporting clays, the instituteâ€™s Jon Caldara said to great laughter that it was now time for Republicans to collect their shotguns, form a circle and aim for the center.

I literally could not swallow most of went down at my first visit to the Independence Instituteâ€™s annual summer fete.

It was last year and my problem wasnâ€™t solely due to the fact the ATFâ€™s keynote speaker was Joe the Plumber â€“ and that Joe was at least as annoying as I would have imagined he would be if given booze, a sympathetic audience and a microphone.

Rather, my problem was that I had grilled lamb steaks the night before â€“ rare â€“ and apparently had an allergic reaction to the blood.

Or perhaps I was just nervous about showing up at a gathering of conservatives with guns.

Whatever the cause, my throat closed so tightly I couldnâ€™t swallow even a sip of water.

When I left my home that next morning to head for the shooting and drinking and smoking, I was undecided on whether I would attend or divert to the nearest emergency room.

The condition lasted till noon, when my throat opened and I drank the best-tasting, most-life-affirming bottle of Gatorade I have ever downed â€“ and in one long pull.

So I didnâ€™t care that Joe the Plumber was holding forth with an ode to driving his gas guzzler across Americaâ€™s pristine places because it was his God-given right to do so. Or something.

This yearâ€™s ATF featured Nick Gillespie, editor of Reason.com and Reason.TV, an urbane sophisticate who, until Saturday, had never fired a gun, and who failed to hit a single flying clay disk in the few rounds he attended before sneaking away to crib out his presentation on a hotel memo pad. (Note to politicians: Real thinkers write their own material.)

Gillespie is a true intellectual, who can, before finishing his lunch, discuss how â€śThe Great Gatsbyâ€ť might be written today, switch to a riff on free-market reasons for supporting a value-added tax, reference economic studies that detail the â€śself-correctingâ€ť tax distribution in European countries that have applied a VAT, chart from memory the nationâ€™s deficit spending patterns since the Great Depression, and all while handling a pretend-Iâ€™m-interested discussion with a political candidate whose conversation is limited to repeating the phrase, â€śItâ€™ll be a real dog-fight, in every sense of the word.â€ť

Gillespieâ€™s address dropped Joe the Plumberâ€™s â€śthrow the bums outâ€ť rant tactic, and, as he is wont to do, appealed to reason.

While Gillespie began by mocking the more out-there recent excesses of the Nanny State (such as bans on â€śfish pedicuresâ€ť), his goal was to argue that such debates were mostly trivial symptoms of a larger ill.

Gillespie also departed from the political tactic of describing the condition of the country as headed for ashes unless something urgent and spectacular reverses our course.

Instead, Gillespie cast our nationâ€™s present state of existence as a Golden Age of plenty.

Even in this down economy, our supermarkets contain more delights and goodies and nourishments than any civilization has ever before imagined, Gillespie said. Our standard of living remains terrifically high.

But, Gillespie said, one of the dangers of prosperity and comfortable living is that you can get soft-headed.

When youâ€™re hungry and struggling, you tend to focus on the necessary.

When you live with plenty, you have to remember to focus on the necessary.

And so it is that our freedoms are being threatened by lawmakers and supporters with â€ścollectivistâ€ť ambitions that could slow our progress and diminish our prospects, Gillespie warned.

In short, we have too much to lose, Gillespie said. Thatâ€™s why conservatives are worried about the growth of government; they donâ€™t want to mess up a good deal.

So, Gillespie exhorted the crowd, raise your children to be responsible and mindful of the rewards available to them. Raise them to resist the impulse of over-reaching politicians who wish to limit our freedoms.

And enjoy your day.

It was the kind of address I didnâ€™t expect to hear after stopping by Tea Party gatherings at the state capitol over the last year or so.

And yes, there are plenty of conservative thinkers, like Gillespie, who make reasoned arguments. But please give your Spotted This Morning correspondent a little slack â€“ because youâ€™ve got to admit that the storyline that usually gets told focuses on the folks with the Gadsden flags.

Is this a new development among conservatives, or just a moment of clarity?

Because communicating those kinds of ideas â€“ should we hear more of them â€“ would be appealing to Coloradoâ€™s large segment of independent, unaffiliated voters worried about the direction of our state and nation, but who arenâ€™t ready to start toting pitchforks and torches.

If that kind of thinking becomes a clear message from the right, it will become more difficult for opponents to shrug off conservative thinkers as misanthropic or selfish.

Or so it seemed on an afternoon fueled by shotgun adrenaline, iced whiskey and that unique euphoria that accompanies a once-a-year cigar.

Gillespie and Reason have been around for YEARS, and his point of view has had a home on Fox News's Red Eye for over a year. The fact that Plunkett was surprised proves how hopelessly isolated from reality the DP's writers are.Also, Gillespie , Reason, and the II do not carry water for the GOP. Plunkett's polarized view that these people, and possibly the Tea Party (guessing) are GOP operatives is simply false. These people are not with the GOP, a lot of the Tea Party consists of independents. These people are not conservatives either; read my lips – free market libertarians. There is a big difference. Untill the DP understands these things, everything that happens this Fall will come as a complete surprise to them.

Sdfgsdfg

Nick Gillespie is certainly not a conservative – he's a libertarian. The fact that you assume that he must be a conservative says volumes about your sloppy thinking.

Bob

Well, I'd like to say thanks for attending, Chuck.What readers should take from this maybe is not how narrow minded the DP is but that Chuck and fellow DP editors and writers have made it a point to at least make the effort to attend. For several years. Chuck, David H. and others did in fact spend half a day interacting with dozens of very opinionated folks. I respect that.At ATF thought is encouraged, nannism is discouraged and no one was once again injured but many enlightened.My $.02

Guest

Gillespie, certainly not a “conservative,” mentioned at the ATF party that he has NEVER voted for a candidate that has won elective office. Libertarian does not equal conservative.

Hmm

Might I suggest doing your homework before commenting on individuals as “conservative thinkers.”

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.